I believe the long gun seasons, very liberal buck bag limits, over population of animals, use of dogs etc etc.... hold these areas back.
GREAT POINT!
So...we have all those things....BECAUSE we have so many deer. Do away with them....and we're severely overpopulated (which stunts deer growth).
Alabama has good bucks, so does Georgia and Mississippi....
OK....let's all do an experiment. Let's all go out (people in these three states AND NC, OH, IA, IL)in our back yards and plant an azeala. It'll survive the cold of the midwest states.....and it'll be fine in our heat. Catch is....don't add any topsoil. Just stick it in the existing soils. Let's all check back in a year and see how they're doing.
The soils in the states of the midwest....AND the states you mention, Scott....are the reason the deer grow bigger. What they're eating is far more nutritous in the midwest and select southern states.
NC had "A" 140" buck entered? How many did OH have (out of curiosity)?